South Australia's most famous football coach has likened player retirements to a bucket of water.

Take a hand out of the bucket, Jack Oatey said, and there is no hole - the water simply moves and covers any gap.

Oatey coached 37 seasons in the SANFL, his astonishing career ending in 1982 with 10 premierships from 17 grand finals.

But even the late great Oatey might revisit his analogy given the unprecedented retirements of SA's biggest football names this year.

Goodwin. Edwards. Tredrea. Burton. Carr. All going or gone.

McLeod - probably gone. Chad Cornes - maybe.

The decorated bunch are among the most respected players SA has generated; household names synonymous with football in the state.

Combined, they have played more than 1800 AFL games; collected 16 All Australian jumpers; won 10 club champion awards. All bar one are premiership heroes.

Injury cruelled the end for some, others conceded when the game not only caught them, but flew by at speed.

Their exits from the AFL stage leave a gaping hole.

But another retired SA champion, Adelaide's dual premiership captain Mark Bickley, subscribes to Oatey's view.

"As one person gets pushed off the edge, another emerges from the front, it's a fact of life," Bickley said this week as he recounted Oatey's water bucket theory.

"The water is fluid and moves in and covers it up - and that is pretty much what happens with players: someone steps up and takes over the mantle."

Crows captain Simon Goodwin was the first of the bumper crop to pull the pin, saying on May 25 he would quit at season's end.

Goodwin's rationale was simple: he wanted people to ask why retire, not why not.

"I wanted to go out on my terms ... not someone who crawled to the finish," explained the 33-year-old.

Goodwin, who played in two premierships under Bickley, stunned because the timing of his announcement was entirely unexpected.

But, fair to say, it wasn't as confounding as events two days later when his teammate Tyson Edwards quit in murky circumstances.

Edwards retired after being dropped from Adelaide's side for round 10.

A dummy spit of the highest order? Or a decision genuinely made for the betterment of youth development? The questions still polarise.

"At some stage you have got to realise that the game has got you, and as much as you try and beat it and fight it, you can't," Edwards said.

Adelaide's benchmark of consistency wanted a farewell game, but coach Neil Craig refused - until a remarkable public outpouring of support for the popular 33-year-old prompted, or forced, a change of mind.

So Edwards collected 32 possessions, possibly three Brownlow Medal votes, and waved goodbye in round 11 after his 321st and last AFL game.

Next to come and go was Brett Burton, who on June 21 said he would quit at the end of the season.

Endearingly known as the Birdman for his freakish high marking, Burton's prolonged healing from knee surgery cemented his decision.

"It was my body getting to a point where I had to come to a decision," said Burton, to retire without a premiership.

Despite being frequently grounded by injury, the 32-year-old with the most spectacular of highlight reels was grateful.

"I don't want to sit here and whinge - I have played 177 games ... some people have had career-ending injuries," Burton said.

The decisions of the three Crows inevitably turned a spotlight on coach Craig's decision to award the trio, and 33-year-old Andrew McLeod, contracts for the 2010 season.

Adelaide's inaugural coach, Graham Cornes, believes Craig erred.

"There is no doubt, a couple of those guys should have been retired - but don't ask me which ones," Cornes said.

McLeod, arguably the best of them all, has yet to confirm his expected departure, unlike his Port Adelaide rival Josh Carr.

Carr won't be remembered for the flash and dash of the elite Crow quartet, but his influence on his club was just as significant.

Days after Carr's 207th and final game, Port's best player - Warren Tredrea - retired.

The forward line marvel's consistent excellence produced an honour roll matched by few.

Four club champion awards. Four All Australian jumpers. Seven times club leading goalkicker. Acting captain in the 2004 premiership. Captain from 2006-2008. Most games, and goals, for Port.

Tredrea's 255-match career ended not with a scripted farewell but ankle surgery.

The injury sidelined the 31-year-old since round seven. Coincidence or not, Port lost their next nine games without their goalkicking guru.

"I had pretty much made the decision the day I went down," Tredrea said of retirement.

The 'end is nigh' focus now is on McLeod, and Tredrea's 230-game teammate Chad Cornes, whose career, despite being contracted for next season, appears in its death throes.

Someone pass them the bucket.

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